Chapter 1

What Is VBA?

In This Chapter

arrow Getting a conceptual overview of VBA

arrow Finding out what you can do with VBA

arrow Discovering the advantages and disadvantages of using VBA

arrow Taking a mini-lesson on the history of Excel

If you’re anxious to jump into VBA programming, hold your horses. This chapter is completely devoid of any hands-on training material. It does, however, contain some essential background information that assists you in becoming an Excel programmer. In other words, this chapter paves the way for everything else that follows and gives you a feel for how Excel programming fits into the overall scheme of the universe. It’s not as boring as you might think, so please try to resist the urge to jump to Chapter 2.

Okay, So What Is VBA?

VBA, which stands for Visual Basic for Applications, is a programming language developed by Microsoft — you know, the company that tries to get you to buy a new version of Windows every few years. Excel, along with the other members of Microsoft Office, includes the VBA language (at no extra charge). In a nutshell, VBA is the tool that people ...

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